Leo the Responsible
by teeroy766
Summary: Leo and Aeris are walking home from a long day of waiting at Gamestop. They get in a fight, as usual, and Aeris storms to her room while she complains that Leo isn't responsible. Leo come to check on her later only to find a surprise waiting for him. T for censored swearing and sugestive content in later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

**Toronto Canada:**

**Time: 20:56**

It was a quiet, and cold night in the town of Toronto. The snow was falling slowly that night, no need to worry about being snowed in, the snow was just decoration that night. The night was moving on and people around the town were beginning to get ready for bed, and just watching television. Well, most people. Cutting the silence clean in half was the bickering of two familiar felines making their way to their apartment.

"I can't believe you lost the receipt and didn't even tell me!" The pink cat exclaimed as she and her friend walked down the dark sidewalk. Any onlookers would be able to tell that she was barely able to resist her desire to turn his face into mush.

"How was I supposed to know we needed it to pick up our pre-order? Can't they just take our word for it or something?" He asked. Aeris decided to not justify his stupidity with a true answer and chose to angrily growl at him instead. "Hey, calm down, it'll be there in the morning. It's not that big of a deal. I mean really, are you on your period or something?"

'_That's it. That was the last straw_.' Aeris decided. You could practically see a vein in her forehead throb, and hear her teeth grind together as she raised her fist and reared back for one of the strongest punches she had ever given to the little grey idiot.

Leo's eyes grew huge when he saw his friend rear back for the punch. Acting on instinct and experience, he quickly dropped into a fetal position to protect his vitals and just laid on the ground as he whimpered in fear.

Aeris saw his reaction, and for the first time seemed to actually take notice of the effect her actions had on her friend. She could only stare at her friend as he shook in fear of the impending pain he had coming. 'I_s this how he always sees me? Do I always resort to violence? What kind of friend have I become?_' She wondered. With much effort she lowered her fist, and took a couple of deep breaths before speaking. "It was just a mistake. We'll just bring our reward cards tomorrow. We should have done that in the first place." She said as calmly as she could.

"I'M SORRY AERIS! I'LL FIND IT- Wait, what?" Leo said as the fact that he wasn't in excruciating pain dawned on him. He looked up from his position on the ground to see Aeris turned slightly away from him. Her fist was at her side, it was shaking from the obvious effort she was making to not hit him. He stood up and looked at her face. She was definitely still angry, but there was also a little bit of sadness and regret mixed in with the anger. Leo tried to make some sense out of it, but his meager IQ tripped him up again, he decided to ask Pantsman about it later. "Ok… Well, I guess we should get home before we freeze to death then." He said with confusion clear in his voice.

'_Why was he so confused by me being nice? Am I really that bad? I- I need to stop before I really hurt him. I don't want to become my grandmother and end up hurting everyone I know._' She decided as they made their way to the apartment.

(Author's note: Her grandmother will not make an appearance in the story, I just needed some one for Aeris to realize that she was becoming that person and I figured an evil grandmother would work.)

They walked the rest of the way in silence. Leo, not wanting to make up for the punch he didn't receive, decided he would just keep his stupid mouth shut and plastered a grin on his face. Aeris just walked with the a look of sadness and new determination on her face.

They walked up the flight of stairs to their apartment and Aeris to the side as she waited for Leo to unlock the door. She sat and thought of all the ways she must have mistreated her friend in anger. '_How has he even stayed with me for so long? Surely he could have found a roommate that won't beat him to a pulp every time he even burns the toast. Why does he put up with me?'_ She wondered in her head. She looked up and realized it had been a good five minutes and that they were still outside their apartment. "Leo, why isn't the door open yet?"

Leo was panicking. He patted down his pants, jacket fur, everywhere. But he still couldn't find the key. Fearing she might get angrier if he didn't tell her he prepared for the worst and answered her question. "Um… I might have lost the key." He stammered out.

"Are you telling me that we are locked out of our own f***ing apartment because you LOST THE KEY?" She yelled at him, temporarily forgetting her promise to be nicer to him. "Um… maybe?" Leo squeaked out as he began to cower again. "How could you lose the damned key?" She yelled again. She was trying very hard not to beat his face in. "Well, it may not be so much that I lost the key, in fact it's more along the lines of me forgetting to even get the k-" Leo was cut of by Aeris' shout. "SHUT UP! I DON'T CARE!" She yelled as she punched the door in a last ditch attempt to take out her frustration out with out hurting him.

The door swung open with a quiet click as her fist made impact. They stared at it for a good two minutes before Aeris broke the silence. "You forgot to lock the door? Hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars of gaming equipment and items, and YOU JUT LEFT THE DOOR UNLOCKED?" The question turned into a deafening yell. "How can you be so irresponsible? You are a complete and total moron."

"But, we were in a hurry an-" He was cut off once again by her yell of frustration. "I don't care, just shut up. I am going to my room. Don't even dare talking to me until you learn to be responsible." And with that she made her way to her room and slammed the door shut.

Leo's ears drooped as he processed what she said. '_Moron! Why are you so stupid Leo? She's right. I am just a moron and totally irresponsible._' He said as a pit formed in his stomach. '_No wonder she hates me._' He thought. He looked around the room and started to check the house. '_Better check and see if anything was stolen. That's a good start any way._'

**Aeris' room:**

"Arghhh! How am I supposed to be nicer to him when he is a complete moron and child?!" She yelled as she flopped onto her bed. "He just makes me so mad sometimes. I just want to punch that stupid smile off his face when he does something like that." She said to herself. She laid in her bed and tried to think of ways to divert or stop her anger problems. She was looking around her room when she noticed a bottle of pills sitting on her dresser. Curious, she got up and walked to the dresser to examine the bottle. "Super anger management pills. Guaranteed to make you as sweet as a baby or your money back." She read aloud. '_That's right, these things fell out of Johnny evil guy's pockets when I beat him up to get Leo's money back._' She remembered as she twisted the lid off. "Guess they can't hurt." She said, and with a shrug she swallowed the recommended dosage of two pills.

She stood there for a good five minutes before she could feel them working. "Whoa… These REALLY mellow you out, I feel so calm." She said as a numbness came over her body. She stumbled to her bed as her head began to feel lighter. "Wow, getting kinda sleepy." She said as she fell into bed. She was asleep before her head hit the pillow.

**An hour and a half later:**

"Hey Aeris! I found the receipt! And I made us some hot chocolate!" He yelled as he knocked on her door. He hoped his discovery and his peace offering was enough to at least lighten her anger against him. He knocked some more and waited for a minute. '_That's odd. She usually at least yells at me for disturbing her._' He thought to himself. After a few more knocks and a little waiting he began to grow worried. "I hope she is ok." He said to himself. He steeled himself for the possibly suicidal action he was about to commit. "Aeris? I am coming in." He yelled as he opened the door slowly.

He looked around the room and was surprised at the lack of her presence. "Aeris?" He called. No answer. He looked around the room, the only sign that she had been there was her clothes lying on her bed. "She must have gone to take a shower." He said. "Better not get here when she gets back." He decided as he set her mug of hot chocolate on her desk. He turned to leave the room when he was stopped by a noise. It sounded like a squeak. He turned around and looked for the noise. After a minute of searching with no results, he turned to leave the room. Then he heard it again. He looked around and noticed that clothes on Aeris' bed seemed to be moving. He sat his mug on the desk and moved the clothes off of the squirming object. "What. The. Actual. F***." Leo said aloud as he stared down at the pink furred, white-bellied kitten looking at him with big eyes.

The kitten appeared to have just woken up and was old enough to talk. "Umm… Who are you?" He asked nervously, he was terrified of the answer he was sure he was going to get. She rubbed her eyes and looked up at him with her huge blue eyes. "My name ith Aerith." She said quietly, and with a bit of shyness in her voice, she had some difficulty pronouncing the 'S'es. He stood and stared at her for a few minutes before he asked his next question. "And how old are you?" She screwed up her face in concentration and then answered. "I just turned four." She answered.

Leo could only stare at her, and it was starting to make the four year old uncomfortable. After another minute he recovered.

"I am so screwed."

**End chapter 1.**


	2. Chapter 2

_**Author's Note:**_

**First off, I would like to thank all those who reviewed this. I had originally posted the first chapter on my DA page a week or so before uploading it here. I hadn't ever used for that but I was pleasantly surprised when I got some reviews. Turns out DA is just not as friendly to fanfiction. So from now on, I will be posting the new chapters here first.**

**Now that that bit is out of the way I am going to try and make a reply to those that reviewed. I am not going to reply to each review (3 as of this post. Not a lot, but for me it is.) individually. I am just going to make a few comments regarding the comments I have received so far. All right, here goes:**

**First and foremost: I made the mistake of posting this Fanfic under the Genre Humor/Romance. This, was a mistake. A mistake I realized after I had already departed for spring break to a location where I could not get a good enough internet connection to change it. I am serious, the cell service there sucked and apparently people didn't know how to set up a good guest WIFI router at their businesses. But, back on topic, I have corrected this mistake. As of this post, the story should be listed under Humor/Friendship. **

**I quickly want to explain this change. I am a LeoXAeris fan. But, unlike a lot of people fic writers, I have always preferred the fics where they just cuddle, or something like that. So in the beginning I thought this went in the romance genre. But upon reflection, even though they will probably make out in the end, Aeris will be back to normal, it is still a bit more of a Friendship story. So for those of you who's Pedobear alarms were going off, don't worry. I have honestly been worrying about it all week and am relieved that I can fix that.**

**Thanks to those who complimented my writing style. You have no idea how this helps me want to write more. Oh, and the story is mainly going to focus on Leo trying to raise a four-year-old, or at least keep her alive, while also trying to figure out how ot turn her back to normal. So this isn't a: boy make girl mad, girl runs off, boy goes after her and/or saves her, then they go off to do... things.(My little brother will read this so pardon my hesitation.)**

**All righty then. I think that is about all I wanted to say. Don't worry the author's notes will be on the bottom in all other chapters unless something important that I need to tell you happens. I just wanted to address the whole "Sounds like a pedo story" thing.**

**Ok, I am done. Read, leave a review if you'd like, but most of all, enjoy!**

**~Teeroy766**

**Chapter 2**

**Toronto Canada**

**Leo & Aeris' Apartment**

Leo stared at the kitten in front of him for another good minute. That is, until she started to cry. "Why are you crying?" Leo said frantically; He could not stand the sound of little children crying, neither could Aeris, but instead of making him angry it made him want to cry also. "Why are you staring at me? Did I do something wrong? Are you going to hurt me?" She asked in a small scared voice as she tried to hide beneath the blankets on her bed. Leo stopped and realized that she had to be terrified. She evidently didn't have much if any memory of her adult self, and so she didn't know what was going on. Being only four years old, she would naturally be scared.

Leo quickly, but not so quickly as to startle her, knelt down and gave her a hug. "Shhh… No, I am not going to hurt you. I just didn't realize you were here and you surprised me. That's why I was staring at you." He tried to say in his most calming voice. He then thought of something. "Do you know who I am?" He asked her. He didn't know what her current state of memory was, better to at least find out a little bit now then be surprised later.

She scrunched up her face, deep in thought then she looked at him with a smile. "You're Leo. You're my friend aren't you?" She said happily. The look she gave him almost made him cry; She looked like she had complete and total trust in him, the kind of trust only a child could give. "That's right. I am your friend, your best friend even. Now, can you tell me where you are right now?" He asked her, he was feeling rather confidant right now. "We're at your house right now, right?" She asked him with a confused look. She was currently staring at him like he had two heads. "Ok, just checking. Now, how about…" He was cut off by a loud grumbling noise. Aeris looked down at her belly and then looked up at him sheepishly. "I'm hungry…"

Leo just stared for a bit, then he just fell to the floor laughing. After five more minutes he finally collected himself enough to stand up and look at Aeris. When he looked he saw that she had her trademarked scowl going on. "You're laughing at me." She pouted. He rubbed the tears from his eyes, let out a few last chuckles then responded. "Sorry about that. I have had a long day and am really kinda tired. Anything will make me laugh right now, and the timing of that was absolutely perfect. Ok, I am done now. Why don't we head on down to the kitchen and I'll get you a snack, then we can see about getting us both to bed."

He was about to walk outside the door when he realized something; or, Aeris made him realize something. He turned around when he her clear her throat. His eyes widened when he realized her problem. You see, when whatever-it-was-that-mad- her younger did so, she shrunk, as she got younger, as you would if you got younger. But the fact of the matter was, her clothes did not, it seems the powers-that-be that did this to her only had enough decency to extend whatever it was to her under garments. The problem he was faced with now was: what was she going to wear? He thought for a moment then realized exactly what the solution was. He strode over to Aeris' closet and pulled a box out from the very back. Inside the box were various items from Aeris' childhood. Included in the box were a few pairs of clothes that looked to be about her current size. He silently thanked her parents and handed Aeris' a pair of pajamas. "These should fit you. We'll have to go shopping tomorrow or the next day to get you some more though." He said as he gathered the remaining four-year-old sized clothes from the box. He got back up and turned around to see Aeris sleepily staring at him, now clad in her old pink MLP pajamas.

He chuckled at the sight and offered her is hand. "Come on, we'll get something to eat, then it's off to bed for you." He told the sleepy kitten. "She yawned and gave him a slightly annoyed look, or at least tried to. "I'm not sleepy…" He chuckled again. "Sure you aren't."

After she had a nice PB&J sandwich and a warm glass of milk, Leo took the almost asleep Aeris up to her room and tucked her into bed. "Goodnight Aeris." He whispered to her as he quietly left the room. He left the door cracked just in case she needed him and was about to walk off when he heard her late, sleepy reply. "Goodnight Leo, I love you." He froze at the comment_. 'Probably just a little kid thing, they love anything almost instantly.'_ He thought to himself.

He walked downstairs and into the living room to think. Now thinking isn't exactly his best skill, but when needed, he can do it. _'All right Leo; let's start with a checklist. Aeris is now four years old again: Check; I don't have a clue as to how it happened, or how to fix it: Check; Anything else? No, that seems to sum it up.'_ He thought to himself as he sat down on the couch. He screwed up his face in thought once again. _'Ok, so what to do? Obviously she is going to need some new clothes. Next, I we don't have any food fit for a four year old to eat, about the only thing I have that I would feel good letting her eat is a PB&J sandwich and cereal. And finally, I need to see if I can figure out how to turn her back, or how long it will take for this… thing, to wear off.'_ He thought with a grimace. He sat in silence for a few minutes, if the old Aeris was there she would comment on how he overheated his defective brain with all that thought and that he had to cool down now or face a total mealtdown.

He got up and climbed the stair to his room. On the way there, he glanced into Aeris' room to make sure she was fine. There she was, curled up into a ball, clutching the plushie of himself he had given her as a joke. _'Guess it was good for something after all.'_ He noticed the look of contentment on her face, it radiated the fact that she was completely at peace, no worries, no fear, just peace, as if everything was right with her world if only for a little moment. He smiled, he hadn't seen that look in a very long time; not since early high school if he was correct, he had seen it at a sleep over her dad let her have. He missed it a little bit. He shook his head and walked back to his room. _'Gosh Leo, you have got to go to bed. You sound like you are an old sentimental geezer.'_ He thought as he climbed into bed. He made one last check to make sure his door was open just in case Aeris needed him then went to sleep. Tomorrow was going to be one heck of a day.

**End Chapter 2**


	3. Chapter 3

Toronto 9:30 AM

The next morning, Leo woke up to a slightly distressed Aeris trying to poke him awake. "*Groan* Aeris, it's… 9:30 on a Saturday. Please let me sleep in." He groaned. "But I'm hungry." The young kitten pouted and gave him the puppy dog… er… kitten eyes. "*Sigh* Fine, just let me get dressed and I'll make us some breakfast." He conceded, as he was unable to resist that look.

"Yay!" Aeris yelled as she skipped happily out of the room. He walked over to his dresser and pulled out his usual attire and started to get dressed. _'Ok Leo, evidently yesterday's events were not a dream. So now I have to figure out what to do with her. First thing on the agenda for today: feeding the Aeris.' _He thought to himself as walked down the stairs.

As he entered the kitchen, he saw that Aeris was already sitting in her usual spot at the table. He wasn't sure if that was a sign of more latent memories, or if she just randomly picked there to sit down. "What do you want for breakfast? We have… P, B, & J sandwiches, and cereal." He said as he peered into the nearly empty cabinets. He looked over his shoulders to see her scrunching up her face in thought. "What kind of cereal?" She asked. He pushed around the few cereal boxes that were in there before answering. "Uh… Blandi-os, Diabetes bombs, and sugar loops." He read to her. "Uh… What ever will be fine I guess." She said in a disappointed voice. He couldn't blame her either. After that truth-in-advertising bill became law, the cereals just weren't the same.

He poured them both bowls of sugar loops and milk, and walked over to the table. They ate in silence; Aeris too busy scarfing down here cereal and lapping up the milk, and Leo to groggy to make true conversation. After finishing her cereal in record time, Aeris looked at Leo and asked him the very question he was mentally asking himself. "What are we going to do today?" Leo paused eating and considered the question. _'What ARE we doing today? Well, we need to go get some food to keep us both from starving. I need to deal with some business, and I also need to see about finding a way to change her back to normal.' _

Leo looked at the kitten for a few seconds before answering. "Well, first I am going to find you some clothes so we can go to the store today. Then I have some stuff I have to do on the computer, then we can go to town and run some errands." He told her as he put their bowls and spoons in the sink. "Now, let's get you in some different clothes." He said as he led her upstairs.

Leo opened the box of Aeris' old clothes and dug through them for a suitable pair of clothes. "How about this? A bit out of date, but it'll do until we can buy you some more." He told her as he handed her a Pokémon Red t-shirt and some old jeans. "Oooo… Pokémon is my favorite!" She squealed happily as she took the clothes. "Really? Good, because I am gonna let you play my Gameboy and you can play Red version while I finish up some things on my computer." He told her as he left the room to let her change.

Once she was changed he gave her his old Gameboy, with a new set of batteries of course, and a copy of Pokémon Red. "Take this and go play on the couch please. I have to take care of a couple of things and then we can go to town." He told her. "Ok." She said with a cute little grin as she skipped over to the couch. _'What ever happened to this carefree Aeris?' _Leo wondered as he sat down at the kitchen table with his laptop.

Leo started his computer up and started to work. _'Got to keep food on the table, especially now that Aeris is out of commission.' _He thought to himself as he submitted his latest article to his editor. Leo grinned. Most people though he was just a mindless retard, and on some days they were right. But he did indeed have a job, where else did he come up with his side of the rent and grocery money? And what a job it was. Leo had been employed by one of the biggest video game news magazines for nearly three years now as a reviewer and someone who made predictions on future hardware and games. He made a pretty penny doing it too. He had originally meant to tell Aeris about it, but he decided against it when he realized she wouldn't like the thought of Leo having his dream job while she had been fired from her last three jobs and had finally found some stable employment at a local bar.

He then opened his email and composed a message to the only person who could possibly help with his problem. "Hey dude, got a problem. Need you to meet me at the playground in town at 2:00 PM. Don't be late, don't be drunk, and for Pete's sake make sure you are dressed. It is an emergency so be there. Or else." He sent it and closed his laptop. Leo sighed as he walked into the living room. "All right. Are we ready to go?" He asked. Aeris grinned and took his hand and they walked out the door for a day in town.

Author's Note:

Sorry for making this one so short. I just was not looking forward to this chapter because it was so boring. But it had to be done. Now that that stuff is out of the way, I am going to have fun with the next chapter. Thanks for reading! :D


	4. Chapter 4

Toronto 11:00 AM

Leo and Aeris walked down the sidewalk towards the center of town. Leo was hesitant about making Aeris walk the whole way, but he didn't have a car and while he was pretty well off he didn't want to waste money on a cab. As they walked, Aeris constantly bombarded Leo with questions: "What is that?" "What does he do?" "Why is that creepy guy poking that kid with a spoon?" and "Why are we walking faster?"

Leo patiently answered all of her questions, maybe not in an entirely truthful manner, but he answered them anyway. Leo couldn't resist the small smile tugging at his lips as he looked down at the kitten skipping happily beside him. Truth be told, he was just happy to see Aeris smile. Aeris had just run into trouble with her last job and got disciplined for it. She was lucky to still have it even, not many places will keep you on after you empty a customer's drink over their head, twice. At least the bar was generous on sick days, Leo had called in saying Aeris had fallen ill and he was afraid it was contagious, not exactly a lie either, and that she would be gone for an undisclosed period of time. As luck would have it, the bar staff had just finished passing around a bad stomach bug and had just gotten well right before hiring Aeris, and they did not want a repeat of that fiasco, so they bought it hook, line, and sinker.

Leo led Aeris into the mall and into Brats 'R' us, a store specializing in children's clothing and toys. "Ok Aeris, let's find you some clothes. You can pick out what ever you like. You need a few pairs of regular clothes, some pajamas, and a pair of play clothes." He told the wonderstruck kitten beside him. She turned to him with a look of complete disbelief. "Really?" Leo just nodded his head in response. Aeris squealed with glee as she ran into the clothes section with the speed of an Olympic runner. Leo chuckled and followed her in.

Aeris was not one to spend a lot of time on a decision. Even as a small kitten, she walked through the clothing and just picked up the ones she liked and left the ones she didn't. Leo was actually surprised when he noticed most, if not all, of her shirts had actually come from the boy's clothing section instead of the girls. He had kind of figured that since this version of Aeris was extremely happy and bright, that she would also be girly. It was reassuring to see that the Aeris he knew was not a recent development.

Leo and Aeris made their way to the check out to pay for their goods. As they walked Aeris spotted something out of the corner of her eye and ran off to grab it. "Hey, Aeris! Where are you going?" Leo called in slight distress, as he couldn't just run after her while holding the clothes. He didn't have to worry though as Aeris returned shortly with a stuffed animal in her hands. Aeris walked shyly up to Leo and mumbled something he couldn't quite catch. "What was that? You need to speak up." He asked. "Um, I really, really hate to ask since you have been so nice to me, but could you please buy this too?" She asked as she held up the stuffed animal. It was a grey cat with a blue shirt on. Leo didn't know why the store would even carry something like that, although when he thought about the other toys they carried he decided to forget about it. "All right, but you have to promise to take care of it." He told the kitten, all while trying to sound very serious, and failing. "I promise!" She said, almost in fear of losing it.

Leo paid for their items and left the store. It was about lunchtime by now so he took her to the food court. They each got a slice of pizza and sat down at the able. Leo couldn't help but smile, Aeris had insisted on carrying her new friend with her the moment they left the store and was now eating her pizza with it sitting in her lap. _'I should be recording this for blackmail once she is back to normal.' _His grin quickly faded as a terrifying thought hit him. _'What if she never goes back to normal? What if this is permanent?' _He thought, and honestly, the thought terrified him. Aeris had always been there to help him with the hard decisions. Even with the ones he made on his own, Aeris was still someone he could fall back on if it went wrong. _'I've been doing pretty well with not messing this up so far. But what if I goof this up and she gets hurt?'_

Leo was brought out of his darkening thoughts by a small pair of hands rapping around his neck. Aeris had climbed onto the table and was now hugging him as if he would disappear. "Aeris, what's wrong?" He asked in concern as he returned the hug. "You looked sad. I don't like it when you are sad." Aeris said with a bit of a sniffle in her voice. Leo picked her up and set her on the table facing him. "It's ok. I'm not sad, maybe a little scared, but not sad. It's nothing you need to worry about. So wipe that frown off and be happy. Let's throw away our garbage and I'll take you to the park." Leo said as he picked her up off the table and set her on the floor. When Leo said the word "park" Aeris' eyes lit up like beacons. "Yay! Park!" She cheered as they walked out of the mall.

They arrived at the park without incident and Aeris walked off to go a round on the swings while Leo sat on the bench and checked his watch. "1:53. Seven minutes and he's late." Leo mumbled as he searched for his friend. "Why don't people ever, oh I don't know, look up?" He heard a voice say from above. In slight panic Leo looked up and saw what he was looking for. In the tree branch sat Pantsman, the city's best, and unfortunately only, "hero".

"So what's this emergency you called about? Xbox lose its save files?" Pantsman said as he dropped onto the bench next to Leo. Leo only responded by pointing at Aeris as she happily swung back and forth. "Uh… dude, that's a kitten, a young cat. Nothing to worry about." Pantsman said in slight irritation. Leo sighed and began to explain the situation to his friend. "Look closer, notice any similarities?" Leo asked the stumped pantsed crusader. Pantsman squinted his eyes for a bit then turned back to Leo in disbelief. "She looks like Aeris. Did Aeris have a- No! You two didn't…" Leo was quick to correct this misunderstanding. "No! Loom closer, that IS Aeris!" He growled at Pantsman. Pantsman stared at her for a bit more than started laughing.

"Wow dude, you must have been more wasted than I was last night. You really think your roommate somehow regressed almost by almost thirteen years and is now a kitten? How retarded are you?" He asked between giggle fits. Leo resisted the urge to channel his inner Aeris and smash his chortling friend's skull in. "I'm serious! Last night Aeris and I got into a fight and she locked herself in her room. I went to check on her later and instead of Aeris, I found her. And to top it all off, she says she is Aeris and apparently can remember some basic things like names and such." Leo explained to Pantsman. "And there is no chance she snuck out and decided to play a prank on you?" Pantsman asked, his skepticism still high. "Yes, the windows in her room don't open, and she couldn't have left the house without me noticing." Leo concluded his argument. Pantsman mulled it over in his head for a bit then sighed. "And I am guessing you want me to help try and find out what happened to her, and how to change her back?" He said in a dejected voice. Leo nodded in response. He sighed. "All right then. I guess the first thing we need to do is see if she really is Aeris." He said as he started forming a plan in his head. "How?" Leo asked as he had tried to answer that question himself, with no results. "I know a guy that will probably be right at home helping us with this. He wont be happy to see me, but he'll help." Pantsman said as he stood up from the bench. "Cool, when do we meet him?" Leo asked as he stood up and they started to go ad collect Aeris. "Right now, better to just get it over with." Pantsman replied.

Author's note:

Woot! some funny stuff/fluffy stuff. Now to solve the mystery. Just a heads up, OCs ahead. I mainly have them in it because none of the normal characters fit what I needed, so I added my own. Also, on another note, in the first and possibly second chapter Aeris talks with a noticeable lisp and what not that young children tend to have. She still has it, but I have just been forgetting to write it that way, so I will be going into the chapter later, possibly after the whole thing is done, and giving her the young child speak the story deserves. But until then. Onward, to victory!


	5. Your friendly neighborhood scientist

Chapter 5: Your Friendly neighborhood Scientist

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Pantsman led Leo and Aeris towards the industrial side of town. As the walked, Leo noticed that the area they were walking into looked rundown, but not decaying. They walked further in and started to see less, and less people around. "Pantsman, I don't feel like getting mugged today." Leo stated nervously. "Don't worry, we passed the safe zone boundaries five blocks back." Pantsman reassured Leo. "That just sounds more ominous. You're not helping." Leo growled. "Relax. Have I ever led you astray? You know what? Don't answer that. Just know that the guy that's gonna help us keeps a tight reign on this part of the town."

Leo walked in silence for the rest of the way, all the while making sure he had a tight grip on Aeris' hand as he went. He glanced down and was surprised to see that, instead of being frightened by their surroundings, she was more fascinated than scared.

After a few more blocks, they arrived in front of an old warehouse. Pantsman walked over to one of the large doors and knocked. After a few seconds an intercom crackled to life. "Who is it? What do you want?" An irritated voice questioned. "It's me Stratos, Pantsman." Pantsman answered hesitantly. There was a pause before the voice answered. "Oh, great. Give me a second." The voice responded. Pantsman turned to Leo and Aeris. "You two might want to stand back." Leo was going to argue but since he had Aeris with him he declined to do so and complied with the request. After a few more seconds the door opened with a groan and a screech. "Keep your distance." Pantsman warned as they walked in.

The interior of the warehouse was entirely different than the exterior. The walls were covered in metal plating that gleamed in the light, the floor was a polished concrete that was clean in shiny. There were various tables and computer consoles along the wall and the warehouse appeared to be separated into multiple rooms by walls added after it's construction. The trio entered the next room, but as Pantsman got to the center of the room, a whirring came from the ceiling as the 2 tiles moved away to allow a machine gun turret to come down and aim at Pantsman who just raised his arms and waited patiently. Leo was prepared to make a run for it, but stopped when he noticed the turret didn't appear to be to going to turn Pantsman into Swiss cheese anytime soon and seemed to be just keeping him where he was.

After a couple of tense minutes, at least for Leo and Aeris. The one of the doors slid open and a figure in a lab coat walked out with an unhappy look on his face. "What is so important that you would decide it is safe for you to come back here so soon?" The young man asked the surrendering superhero. "Calm down Stratos, my friend here needs your help and you are literally the only person around here that can help them." Pantsman replied calmly. "Calm down? CALM DOWN?! I leave my base in your care for three whole days, and when I get back, I find that you used my experimental Hypernet up-link satellite system to stream HD porn and hentai Manga! Which, I apparently have to remind you, all has to be re-formatted into a readable file, by Vivian, the most advanced AI on the planet." Stratos practically screamed at the sweating masked man. "And do you know why this is a problem?" Stratos calmly asked, to which Pantsman weakly shook his head no. "Fine, then I will enlighten you. Vivian, activate holo-emitters in the receiving room. I want you to say hello to our guests."

A few seconds passed, during which, Leo had started to think Stratos was just plain crazy. Then, a very slight buzzing could be heard and a figured shimmered into existence. The figgure manifested itself in the form of a well endowed young woman in tight fitting pants, and shirt appeared to be one size too small, at least. Leo also thought he saw a tail and wings on her back, but wasn't quite sure until she turned to face Stratos. "You wanted to see me sir?" She asked in a voice that was borderline flirty. Stratos sighed before replying. "Yes, I wanted to you to say hello." He replied. She turned to Pantsman and waved before moving on to greet Leo with a smile and a "Hello" before she saw Aeris and gave a soft squeal and picked her up in a hug. "You are so cute! What is a little cutie like you doing in a place like this!" She asked in an excited voice. Stratos cleared his throat to get her attention. "Yes, Vivian, why don't you take, Aeris was it? To the, oh I don't know, the training room, and play with her while I talk to these to gentlemen." Stratos asked. Vivian looked like she had just seen the presents under the tree on Christmas morning and drug Aeris, who stopped resisting after an encouraging look from Leo, out of the room.

After the girls had bee gone for a few good seconds Pantsman spoke. "That, was Vivian? That emotionless voice that kept reminding me that I was accessing unapproved material is her?" He asked in confusion. Stratos took a couple of deep breaths and answered. "Yes, that, is Vivian. She was developed to grow, learn, and think. Ever since you exposed her to that content, she has undergone massive changes, most obvious being that body she created for herself." He explained. Leo, noticing something he did not understand, asked a question. "How does she interact with things in the real world like she did if she is just a hologram?" He asked. Stratos sighed and started to try and knead the headache he felt forming out of his head as he answered. "I don't know, she designed those emitters herself and used the maintenance bots to install them in all facilities that she has access to. She did it around the same time as she designed her body, and she wont tell me how she did it, or give me access to her files. Probably so I can't jam them." He half growled the end of his answer.

Leo and Pantsman looked at each other in confusion. "Why would you want to jam them?" Leo asked. Stratos sighed again. "Because, another habit she has formed appears to be trying on different 'outfits' and then parading around in-front of me with them." Pantsman gazed at Stratos, still confused, while Leo believed he might have an idea as to what he was referring to, but he needed confirmation. "I'm afraid to ask, but what kind of outfits?" Leo asked hesitantly. "Well, so far we have had five different bikinis, each one more revealing than the last, a nurses outfit that onetime project blew up in my face and put me in the infirmary for a week, and a maid's uniform appears to be her favorite when I ask her to clean anything." Statos answered the question with a blush growing stronger at the memories being brought back. Pantsman just looked at him like he was an idiot. "Are you gay or something? You don't like her doing that?" He asked in disbelief. a vein throbbed in his head as he tried to calmly answer the accusation. "No, I am not gay, and in fact, her antics amuse me and I am loath to admit that I look forward to seeing what she comes up with. What I am concerned and angry about is what will happen to me when my colleague that programmed her will do to me when she finds out that her greatest creation that she entrusted to me, has taken on the form of a Succubus and is now actively attempting to seduce me!" Stratos yelled back.

After a few awkward minutes, Stratos calmed down and seemed to come to his senses. "That is beside the point however. What did you two come here for?" He asked as he smoothed his lab coat down. Leo glanced at Pantsman who motioned for him to answer, but keep it short as the pantsed man was still under the sights of the turret. "Well, long story short, my friend Aeris went to bed early last night, she was mad at me and she doesn't normally do that, so I decided to go check on her. When I did, there was a little girl there instead. The one Vivian went to go play with in fact. She looks just like Aeris did at her age, and she claims to be Aeris as well." Leo finished he explanation and Pantsman chuckled. "Stratos, why don't you use your sciensy knowledge to inform Leo as to how that is entirelly-" "Possible." Stratos interrupted. "Say what?" The hero asked. "I said it is possible. Although science probably has nothing to do with it though. Let's go check the scanner readout in the main room, it should have scanned all your DNA as you three walked in." Stratos said as he turned and walked out of the room while motioning for the two to follow him.

"Um, Stratos! Could you please call off your pet ceiling gun!" Pantsman called after the scientist. "Oh, that's right. Disengage." Stratos called back, upon hearing the command, the gun gave a quick know to Pantsman as if to say "Just doing my job" and then disappeared into the ceiling.

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**Author's note: I just want to say I am sorry for how long it took me to update this. I just kind of stopped writing for awhile, but I got a comment on the story asking me to continue that reminded me about it. I will warn any readers that my college semester starts Monday and I might have time to write for a couple of weeks or more.**

**Also, I want to mention that Stratos' name might be subject to change. It was an early name I had for him when I first came up with him and after redesigning his character, I no longer like his name. But I am terrible with coming up with names so it will take a while to come up with a new one.**

**Anyway, thanks for reading!**


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